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Report

24 Apr 2017

Author:
Josimar (Norwegian football magazine)

The Slaves of St Petersburg

Josimar can reveal that at least 110 North Koreans have worked at the Zenit Arena in St Petersburg, one of the venues for the 2018 World Cup Finals. International experts describe the workers from North Korea as both slaves and hostages...[T]ens of thousands of workers are yet to be paid what they were promised...As a consequence of the international boycott of North Korea, due to the country’s frequent testing of nuclear weapons, the regime has in recent years sent more and more workers out of the country. For a country with limited sources of income, these workers provide vital currency for its regime...Josimar sent nine questions regarding our discoveries in Russia to the UEFA President. After a week we got an answer, from a spokesperson at FIFA, which amongst other things, said: «FIFA condemns any human rights violations and, if identified, would not tolerate such conditions on any of the FIFA World Cup stadium construction sites. Lastly, the link you make between North Korean migrant workers in Russia and FIFA contributing to the nuclear weapons programme in their home country is, to say the least, far-fetched and outrageous.»